greenhouse by nature keeps out most pests, it is
still affected by bugs and insects that are naturally problematic for all strawberry crops in

California. “Our first line of defense is beneficial
bugs to target the bad bugs,” says Vasquez. The
beneficial bugs feed on other bugs that harm the
plants (in the case of strawberries, a prime suspect is spider mites). In addition, sticky yellow
sheets are placed around the greenhouse to trap
any other harmful bugs that make their way into
the crop. This reduces and/or eliminates the
need to use any pesticides on the fruit.

Windset has also invested in an impressive
amount of automation for harvesting and packaging their tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.
Newell says all of these efficiencies add up to big
dividends for the consumer. “There used to be a
season for peaches, and a season for cherries,
and a season for tomatoes,” he says. “Now people
can get these things year-round, and that’s the
advantage of the [greenhouse] technology. You
get a better-quality product, at a better price,
with better flavor and better food safety. And you
really can’t beat that.” C

ries. It. Smells. Divine. Planter boxes hover in
midair, suspended by movable cables that the
employees can adjust to make harvesting more
ergonomic. The greenhouse buzzes with
the activities of the daily harvest;
employees trim ripe berries that overflow the sides of the planters, placing
them directly inside the plastic clamshells that Costco members will place in
their carts.

Claire Vasquez, sales and marketing assistant for Windset, pulls up a
reddish-brown mixture from a planter,
explaining that all of the produce grows
in a “soilless medium,” specifically
ground coconut husk. Vasquez explains this helps
keep disease from spreading to plants, which can
occur more easily when plants are grown next to
each other outside. Newell elaborates that the
coconut husk is a clean, organic matter that helps
them to avoid soil fumigants that other land
growers have used to sterilize soil for strawberry
growing. Windset’s growing medium is composted after a year and tilled with soil for use in
land growing.

According to Newell, Windset’s water con-sumption is up to 10 times more efficient thanland farming, depending on the crop and otherfactors. Their closed-loop irrigation system con-tinuously recycles water until it is completelyabsorbed by the plants. Windset has its own on-sitewater treatment system that filters, sterilizes andrecirculates waste- and rainwater. “We, quitefrankly, epitomize the future of sustainable watermanagement,” says Newell. “It’s not just an envi-ronmental thing—it’s an economic thing.Fertilizer is expensive, water is expensive to pumpup and filter, so we want to use it until it’s con-sumed by the plants.”Another crucial earth-friendly growingmethod is Windset’s lack of pesticides. While the